About three days had passed since Lin and Yulan started their journey through the Dead World. On their way, apart from the green grass and the brightly scorching sun, they encountered nothing, not even animals or drinking water with which they could replenish their energy.
Two shadows were slowly moving through the grass, as if they were some kind of zombies. One of them was still relatively fine, but the other was barely walking, holding onto the shoulder of the first.
"Lin... Lin! I see a lake ahead! A lake! Fi... finally we can drink some water!" said the exhausted-looking Yulan; of her former beauty, only her hair and body remained. Her face was completely thin, and drool constantly flowed from her mouth. By her appearance, it was clear that something was wrong with her.
"You're hallucinating. There is no lake with water ahead, only the horizon stretching for tens of kilometers," Lin answered slowly. Although his condition was much better than the girl's, it was also hard for him to endure several days without water.
"Rreally, trueth?" She looked closely and noticed that there really was no lake with water ahead.
Because of this blow, she finally lost all her strength and collapsed onto the grass, looking at it. She thought she saw thousands of tiny drops of water on the grass, so she opened her mouth and started eating the grass.
Observing this scene, Lin sighed and also sat down to eat the grass.
For three days they had no food, so they had to eat grass. It temporarily suppressed hunger but then caused severe stomach pain.
Why didn't I eat the wolf meat? It's simple. The wolf meat itself was dangerous to consume, but even setting that aside, he had no wood to roast the meat and eat it!
And eating it raw was not an option, because who knows how many small worms lived in it. And the diseases one could contract from eating raw meat were quite enough.
In short, he had no choice but to consume grass.
Lin sighed and ate grass, observing the surrounding world. The world was completely flat, without any distinctive features, which began to irritate Lin a little. But then he looked to the right and noticed the outlines... of mountains?
The thought appeared in Lin's mind, as the outlines he saw were very similar to distant mountains.
"Is that... mountains? Or is it another hallucination?" Lin focused and looked at those "mountains." After several seconds of intense observation, the mountains did not disappear, proving to Lin that they were real!
Lin widened his eyes and smiled brightly, then he sharply called out to Yulan:
"Get up quickly! I see mountains in the distance!" he said excitedly.
The half-dead-looking girl slightly lifted her head and looked at Lin questioningly.
"Mountains? Far away? Are you hallucinating? What mountains, we're in the damn plain!"
Lin ignored Yulan's words, instead quickly walking toward the mountains. Although the mountains seemed quite far away, Lin felt that it would take him several days to reach them.
Yulan, lying on the ground, finally looked in the direction Lin had gone and really saw the outlines of mountains!
She rubbed her eyes and opened them, but the mountains still stood tall, like two majestic dragons!
"Mountains... Mountains! Mountains mean snow. And snow means water!" Yulan shouted and ran towards the mountains.
Lin saw the girl's reaction and smiled slightly.
...
Two days later, two figures were standing on one of the mountains, observing the views of a vast mountain range.
The wind howled miserably, scattering tons of snow everywhere, and the two figures were dressed in wolf skins, not paying attention to it.
Yulan turned to Lin and asked in a serious voice:
"Do you recognize these views? Although I have seen many photographs and paintings of the beautiful mountains in the Magic World, they all looked the same..." She lowered her gaze and looked at the tall snowy mountains.
Lin stood with a serious expression and tried to recall all the mountain views he had seen before. Suddenly, he remembered something:
"These are definitely not the Great Undefined Peaks, those are more than ten kilometers tall. And these are at most several kilometers."
Yulan thought for a moment and asked:
"So, is it the Three Peaks or the Snow Lands? I saw photos of the Three Peaks in the southern part of the continent; they looked like three dragons holding up the sky. But I didn't really look at the photos of the Snow Lands..."
"It's okay, I already figured out where we are." Lin gazed at the snowy ridges and replied: "The Three Peaks don't have such large mountain ranges like here. And the concentration of snow there compared to here is like a drop of water compared to a whole bucket. This indicates that it's the Snow Lands. Unless we're in some unexplored part, but that's unlikely."
"If we're in the Snow Lands, then that means we're near the territories of the Matrix family. This greatly simplifies our search, and most likely in a week or two, we'll be able to return."
Yulan, immensely happy with the news, almost burst into tears.
She was already tired of all this!
They had spent five days in this world. She hadn't eaten proper food, she was completely dirty, and she wouldn't be able to celebrate her birthday with her parents. She would have to spend it in an unknown place with a strange person; she was already exhausted from all this!
"Good thing he split his fur coat into two parts. I feel like I would've died from the cold," chills ran down her body.
"The day after tomorrow, I'm supposed to turn sixteen, and then we'll see if I become Awakened or not."
While Yulan was thinking about something, Lin had already started descending a small snow-covered path. He moved carefully, clearing the way with his sword, because at any moment he could fall, and it was better to prepare.
Yulan followed behind him and tried to stay close to him because she felt safe. And suddenly, the cry of an eagle echoed throughout the mountain:
"Kyyrr!"
Yulan sighed, and Lin immediately stopped, looking up and watching the sky. In the sky, he saw the shadow of a bird.
"Be careful," Lin warned.
Yulan, frightened, nodded, but before she could step back, she heard the eagle's cry again, only closer!
"Kyyrrr!" A three-meter eagle flew right over her, brushing a snowy ledge with its wing!
Snow-covered stones immediately began to collapse down at incredible speed, aiming right above the girl. If that mass of stones and snow fell on a person, even if they didn't die instantly, they would surely fall down!
It was certain death!
But at that moment, the fast-falling stones and snow suddenly slowed down, like an iron ball sinking into honey!
Lin calmly looked at the stones and snow above Yulan's head and jumped, swinging his sword several times at them.
Chzzz!
The sword cut through the stones, producing a sharp sound. For this terrible-looking sword, the stones were like butter, which he sliced instantly!
The stones and snow scattered to the sides, not touching Yulan. And then, after a few seconds, the skill's effect completely ended, removing the slow-time zone.
A shocked Yulan shuddered and looked up sharply, but did not see any snow. She slightly opened her mouth, looking at Lin in bewilderment, and asked:
"Was it you who just removed them?"
Lin simply nodded, then his face suddenly changed.
He looked at the unfamiliar girl and the eagle in the sky, realizing something, and suddenly sighed.
"Don't get distracted, and press against the wall," Lin said, realizing that his lost memory had returned.
Yulan quickly did as Lin said. But in her mind there was complete chaos:
"What just happened?! A moment more and I would have died, but when I looked up, I didn't see any snow! Lin says he helped remove them, but how fast? Barely a moment passed!" She looked at Lin.
"If you think about it, Lin never talked about his Title, but judging by his actions, his Title is clearly related to speed... Is he a Physical Awakened?"